BTW John Forbes Kerry during his brief time in Vietnam (he was there, have you heard?) did something similar, running his boat at the shore to maximize the intimidation factor of raking the jungle with machine gun fire even at the cost of maneuverability. I never did riverine patrol so I may be wrong here but it sounds like he was not doing an authorized tactic.

There is always a temptation for Junior Officer to try and impress his troops by going in closer with guns blazing. I am certainly guilty of having had dreams of such glory myself. Modern combat aircraft do not have this social component. Tactical fighter/bombers are crewed only by one or two officers. The Surface Navy, like the Army, is a place where the enlisted get to observe the officers closely during combat. Training discipline and teamwork should be used to ensure that the tools provided by weapon systems and doctrine are used to maximum effect without unnecessary loss.

Sometimes a bright guy in the field has an idea on how to do things better. We are not like the Russians chained to a rigid control system. But generally speaking these ideas should be approved by Senior Officers first. They were not always gray haired and maybe even earned their rank. Besides courtesy pays and they may help.